Wap analyzer

ABSTRACT

A WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) analyzer located on a transmission line between communication apparatuses using WAP. A WAP packet includes at least one WTP-PDU (Wireless Transaction Protocol—Protocol Data Unit). The WAP analyzer comprising, database ( 16 ) for storing state-transition specification data that define a state-transition with a cause-and-effect relationship between WTP-PDUs, states of a WTP layer, primitives between the WTP layer and WSP (Wireless Session Protocol) layer, and states of the WSP layer, based on WAP specification, means ( 11 ) for extracting the WTP-PDUs from the WAP packets, and means ( 13 ) for estimating the state-transition of the WTP layer and the WSP layer, to the apparatus that received one of the WTP-PDUs and subsequently sent other of the WTP-PDUs, for each pair of a sender and a receiver.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a WAP (Wireless ApplicationProtocol) analyzer for analyzing WAP that is a protocol for wirelessdata communication.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

[0002] In a mobile data communication service using cellular phones, aWAP is used on an Internet connection service. When providing suchservice, the operator thereof is requested to monitor packets flowingthrough the network so as to find its throughput falling.

[0003] Conventionally, a protocol analyzer was used for monitoring thepackets. When using this conventional protocol analyzer, the operatoritself had to analyze a PDU (Protocol Data Unit) format to know an eventgenerated in communication apparatuses located at both ends. This isbecause the conventional protocol analyzer cannot display the analyzedresults based upon the communication procedure of WAP. Furthermore, inorder to analyze the state-transition of WAP, it was necessary that theoperator knew the states of a WTP (Wireless Transaction Protocol) layer,the primitives generated between the WTP layer and a WSP (WirelessSession Protocol) layer, and the states of the WSP layer, based on thePDUs. However, such analysis was very difficult for the operatorparticularly when a data error or a retransmission occurred.

[0004] Furthermore, according to the conventional protocol analyzer,even if a specific layer of WAP could be analyzed, the relationshipbetween this specific layer and its higher-order or lower-order layercould not be analyzed. This is because, when the higher-order layerprotocol on a packet was analyzed, necessary information of thelower-order layer protocol on the packet was abandoned.

[0005] Since the transmission state of the lower-order layer protocolconsiderably affects the transmission state of the higher-order layerprotocol, it is very effective to analyze the cause-and-effectrelationship between one primitive on the higher-order layer and aplurality of packets on the lower-order layer. In particular, in orderto grasp the transmission state of WAP, it is necessary to execute theanalysis based on a cause-and-effect relationship between one session ofWSP and a plurality of transactions of WTP.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide aWAP analyzer which can easily analyze the state-transition of WAP basedon monitored communicating PDUs.

[0007] The present invention concerns a WAP analyzer located on atransmission line between communication apparatuses using WAP. A WAPpacket includes at least one WTP-PDUs. According to the presentinvention, particularly, the WAP analyzer comprising, database forstoring state-transition specification data that define astate-transition with a cause-and-effect relationship between WTP-PDUs,states of a WTP layer, primitives between the WTP layer and WSP(Wireless Session Protocol) layer, and states of the WSP layer, based onWAP specification, means for extracting the WTP-PDUs from the WAPpackets, and means for estimating the state-transition of the WTP layerand the WSP layer, to the apparatus that received one of the WTP-PDUsand subsequently sent other of the WTP-PDUs, for each pair of a senderand a receiver.

[0008] It is preferred that the estimating means estimates thestate-transition in the apparatus that sent the one WTP-PDU in aninitial state.

[0009] It is preferred that the estimating means estimates thestate-transition in the apparatus that sent or received the one WTP-PDU,when a predetermined time-out is generated.

[0010] It is preferred that the WAP analyzer further comprises means fordisplaying the state-transition in time series.

[0011] It is preferred that the WAP analyzer further comprises means forstoring a log of the WTP-PDUs extracted on real time in an online stateby the extracting means, and wherein the estimating means processes inan offline state using a plurality of WTP-PDUs stored in the log storingmeans.

[0012] It is preferred that the WAP analyzer further comprises means forstoring a statistical-information including a WTPstatistical-information table and a WSP statistical-information tablefor each pair of send sender and the receiver, and wherein theestimating means for incrementing the number of item of WTPstatistical-information table and of WSP statistical-information table,in a case that the WAP packets corresponds to the item.

[0013] It is preferred that the items of the WTP statistical-informationtable include the number of PDUs, the number of bytes, the number oftransactions, the distributed number of PDUs per transaction, the numberof retransmission PDUs per transaction, the number of retransmissionbytes, the number of retransmission PDUs per transaction and thedistributed number of retransmission bytes per transaction, and whereinitems of the WSP statistical-information table include the number ofsessions, the distributed number of transactions per session, the numberof PDUs per session, and the distributed number of bytes per session.

[0014] It is preferred that the displaying means displays the items andthe numbers of the items in the WTP statistical-information table andthe WSP statistical-information table.

[0015] It is preferred that the displaying means displays an averagenumber of PDUs per transaction, an average number of bytes pertransaction, an average number of retransmission PDUs per transaction,an average number of retransmission bytes per transaction, an averagenumber of transactions per session, an average number of PDUs persession, and an average number of bytes per session.

[0016] Further objects and advantages of the present invention will beapparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments ofthe invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017]FIG. 1 shows a block diagram schematically illustrating a datacommunication system with a WAP analyzer according to the presentinvention;

[0018]FIG. 2 shows a functional block diagram schematically illustratingthe WAP analyzer as a preferred embodiment according to the presentinvention;

[0019]FIG. 3 shows a retransmission sequence of a WTP layer;

[0020]FIG. 4 shows a check sequence of a TID (transaction identifier) ofthe WTP layer;

[0021]FIG. 5 shows a read-ahead sequence of a responder's WTP layeraccording to the present invention;

[0022]FIG. 6 shows a data-structure stored in a statistics informationstorage unit according to the present invention;

[0023]FIG. 7 shows a sequence of states and primitives estimated by theWAP analyzer of the present invention;

[0024]FIG. 8 shows a state-transition table of an initiator's WTP layerstored in a state-transition specification database;

[0025]FIG. 9 shows a state-transition table of a client's WSP layerstored in the state-transition specification database;

[0026]FIG. 10 shows a state-transition table of a responder's WTP layerstored in the state-transition specification database; and

[0027]FIG. 11 shows a state-transition table of a server's WSP layerstored in the state-transition specification database.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0028]FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a data communication system witha WAP analyzer. A mobile terminal 5 using WAP communicates with a WAPserver 3 through a radio base station 2. The WAP server 3 communicateswith a HTTP server 4 through the Internet. The WAP server 3 provides aprotocol translation function between WAP and HTTP. Generally, the WAPanalyzer 1 is mounted on a transmission line between the radio basestation 2 and the WAP server 3. Thus, the WAP analyzer 1 can get PDUs ofcommunicated packets.

[0029] A WAP architecture consists of following layers:

[0030] WAE (Wireless Application Environment),

[0031] WSP (Wireless Session Protocol),

[0032] WTP (Wireless Transaction Protocol),

[0033] WTLS (Wireless Transport Layer Security), and

[0034] WDP (Wireless Datagram Protocol).

[0035] The WAP analyzer according to the present invention analyzes theWTP layer and the WSP layer.

[0036]FIG. 2 schematically illustrates the WAP analyzer as a preferredembodiment according to the present invention. Each functional unit ofthis WAP analyzer will be explained hereinafter.

[0037] A WTP-PDU extraction unit 11 gets or extracts WTP-PDUs of WAPpackets communicated between the radio base station 2 and the WAP server3. An extraction time is stamped on each extracted WTP-PDU, and the eachWTP-PDU is stored in a log storage unit 12 for each four-addressesgroup. The four-addresses group consists of a sender's IP address, areceiver's IP address, a sender's port number and a receiver's portnumber. These extracting operations are executed on real time in theonline state.

[0038] A state-transition specification database 16 stores astate-transition specification data that defines, the cause-and-effectrelationship between the WTP-PDUs and the state of the WTP layer, theprimitive between the WTP layer and the WSP layer, and the state of theWSP layer, based on the specification of WAP specification.

[0039] A state-transition analysis unit 13 consists of a WTP analysisunit 131 and a WSP analysis unit 132. This state-transition analysisunit 13 analyzes the WTP-PDUs taken out from the log storage unit 12.These analysis operations are executed on batch in the offline state.

[0040] The WTP analysis unit 131 analyzes a cause-and effortrelationship with WTP-PDUs, states of a WTP layer, and primitivesbetween the WTP layer and the WSP layer. Also, the WTP analysis unit 131constitutes one transaction that consists of a plurality of WTP-PDUs.The transaction is identified by the four-addresses group of eachWTP-PDU and a TID. The WTP analysis unit 131 estimates state-transitionsof the WTP layer and the WSP layer, to the apparatus that received oneWTP-PDU and subsequently sent other WTP-PDU, for each pair of a senderand a receiver, by using the state-transition specification database 16.The state-transition includes a change in the state of the WTP layer andin the state of the WSP layer, and a change in the sequence ofprimitives between the WTP layer and the WSP layer. These primitives aresent to the WSP analysis unit 132. Furthermore, the WTP analysis unit131 estimates the state-transition in the apparatus that sent the oneWTP-PDU in an initial state, and the state-transition in the apparatusthat sent or received the one WTP-PDU, when a predetermined time-out isgenerated.

[0041] The WSP analysis unit 132 estimates the state of the WSP layer,by using the state-transition specification database 16, based on theprimitive received from the WTP analysis unit 131.

[0042] A statistical-information storage unit 15 has asession-management table with respect to WSP, a transaction-managementtable with respect to WTP, a WTP statistical-information table and a WSPstatistical-information table, for each four-addresses group.

[0043] A display unit 14 displays, in response to the operator'scommand, contents of the session-management table, thetransaction-management table, the WTP statistical-information table andthe WSP statistical-information table, stored in thestatistical-information storage unit 15. In particular, the states andthe primitives of the WTP layer and the WSP layer are displayed in atime-series list. The viewings are realized by GUI (Graphic UserInterface).

[0044]FIG. 3 shows a retransmission sequence of the WTP layer. Forexample, in a case that an Invoke PDU sent from an initiator's WTP layeris not received by a responder's WTP layer, that is, the initiator's WTPlayer does not receive an Ack PDU or a Result PDU, the initiator's WTPlayer resends the Invoke PDU. In this case, it should be noted thatalthough the initiator's WTP layer sends at least one WTP-PDUs, thenumber of transaction is one.

[0045]FIG. 4 shows a check sequence of TID of the WTP layer. In thissequence, the duplication of TID of the same Invoke PDU is checked sothat the initiator's WTP layer never sends the same Invoke PDU to theresponder's WTP layer a plurality of times. This check of the TID isexecuted by sending form the responder's WTP layer an Ack PDU with TIDve(TID verification) to the initiator's WTP layer. In a case that the TIDis valid, the initiator's WTP layer sends an Ack PDU with TIDok (TIDO.K.) to the responder's WTP layer.

[0046]FIG. 5 shows a read-ahead sequence of the responder's WTP layeraccording to the present invention. If the WAP analyzer extracted anInvoke PDU while the responder's WTP layer is in a LISTEN state, it isimpossible to know whether the changed state of this responder's WTPlayer is in a TIDok WAIT state, in an INVOKE RESP WAIT state or in aLISTEN state. The state of the responder's WTP layer will be determinedby a PDU sent thereafter from the responder's WTP layer. Namely, it willbe noted as the TIDok WAIT state when an Ack(TIDve) PDU is sent, as theINVOKE RESP WAIT state when a Result PDU is sent, and as the LISTENstate when an Abort PDU is sent.

[0047]FIG. 6 shows a data-structure in the statistical-informationstorage unit 15 according to the present invention. In this unit 15,each table is prepared for each four-addresses group. Asession-management table includes data indicating a session start time,a session identifier and a present internal state of the WSP layer. Thissession-management table also includes a pointer for the nextsession-management table and a pointer for a transaction-managementtable to associate the WSP layer's information the WTP layer'sinformation. This transaction-management table include data indicating atransaction start time, a TID and the present internal state of the WTPlayer. The unit 15 further has a WTP statistical-information table and aWSP statistical-information table, for each four-addresses group.

[0048] Followings are the WTP statistical-information table and the WSPstatistical-information table. WTP statistical-information table ItemNumber Total number of PDUs Total number of Bytes Total number oftransactions Number of PDUs per transaction (1-5) Number of PDUs pertransaction (6˜10) Number of PDUs per transaction (11˜15) . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . Number of Bytes per transaction (1˜20) Number of Bytesper transaction (21˜40) Number of Bytes per transaction (41˜60) . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . Total retransmission number of PDUs Totalretransmission number of Bytes Retransmission number of PDUs pertransaction (1˜5) Retransmission number of PDUs per transaction (6˜10)Retransmission number of PDUs per transaction (11˜15) . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . Retransmission number of Bytes per transaction (1˜20)Retransmission number of Bytes per transaction (21˜40) Retransmissionnumber of Bytes per transaction (41˜60) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

[0049] WSP statistical-information table Item Number Total number ofsessions Number of transactions per session (1˜5) Number of transactionsper session (6˜10) Number of transactions per session (11˜15) . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . Number of PDUs per session (1˜20) Number of PDUsper session (21˜40) Number of PDUs per session (41˜60) . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . Number of Bytes per session (1˜50) Number of Bytes persession (51˜100) Number of Bytes per session (101˜150) . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .

[0050] These information is statistically displayed on the display unit14. Furthermore, the display unit 14 displays an average number of PDUsper transaction, an average number of bytes per transaction, an averagenumber of retransmission PDUs per transaction, an average number ofretransmission bytes per transaction, an average number of transactionsper session, an average number of PDUs per session, and an averagenumber of bytes per session.

[0051]FIG. 7 shows a sequence of states and primitives estimated by theWAP analyzer of the present invention, FIG. 8 shows a state-transitiondiagram of the initiator's WTP layer, FIG. 9 shows a state-transitiondiagram of the client's WSP layer, FIG. 10 shows a state-transitiondiagram of the responder's WTP layer, and FIG. 11 shows astate-transition diagram of the server's WSP layer.

[0052] The state-transition specification database 16 stores a tabledata based on each state-transition diagram. Since the state-transitiondiagram completely adheres to the WAP standards, the states and theprimitives will be described in detail.

[0053] Hereinafter, the sequence shown in FIG. 7 will be described withreference to the state-transition diagrams of FIGS. 8-11.

[0054] Initially, the client's WSP layer is in a NULL state, theinitiator's WTP layer is in a NULL state, the responder's WTP layer isin a LISTEN state, and the server's WSP layer is in a NULL state.

[0055] (1) First, assuming that the WAP analyzer extracts an Invoke PDU.At this time, it is estimated that the initiator's WTP layer receives aTR-Invoke.req from the WSP layer and changes its state from the NULLstate to a RESULT WAIT state (see S1 of FIGS. 7 and 8). Then, it isestimated that the client's WSP layer which would send the TR-Invoke.reqreceives a S-Connect.req from an application layer and changes its statefrom the NULL state to a CONNECTING state (see S1′ of FIGS. 7 and 9).

[0056] (2) Next, assuming that the WAP analyzer extracts a Result PDU.At this time, it is estimated that the responder's WTP layer which hasreceived the Invoke PDU sends a TR-Invoke.ind to the WSP layer andchanges its state from the LISTEN state to an INVOKE RESP WAIT state(see S2 of FIGS. 7 and 10). As aforementioned with reference to FIG. 5,since the Result PDU is generated in response to the Invoke PDU, theresponder's WTP layer is not in a state other than the INVOKE RESP WAITstate. This estimation is achieved by the read-ahead sequence mentionedabove. Then, it is estimated that the server's WSP layer which wouldreceive the TR-Invoke.ind sends a S-Connect.ind to an application layer,sends a TR-Invoke.res to the WTP layer, and changes its state from theNULL state to a CONNECTING state (see S2′ of FIGS. 7 and 11).

[0057] Whereas, it is estimated that the responder's WTP layer whichwould receive the TR-Invoke.res changes its state from the INVOKE RESPWAIT state to a RESULT state (see S21 of FIGS. 7 and 10).

[0058] Furthermore, it is estimated that the server's WSP layer underthe CONNECTING state receives a S-Connect.res from the applicationlayer, and sends a TR-Result.req to the responder's WTP layer. Then, theserver's WSP layer cannot estimate a following transition state.However, when the server's WSP layer receives a TR-Result.cnfthereafter, it can be estimated that the former state of this server'sWSP layer was a CONNECTING_(—)2 state.

[0059] Then, it is estimated that the responder's WTP layer which wouldreceive the TR-Result.req sends the Result PDU to the initiator's WTPlayer, and changes its state from the RESULT WAIT state to a RESULT RESPWAIT state (see S3 of FIGS. 7 and 10).

[0060] (3) Assuming that the WAP analyzer extracts an Ack PDU. At thistime, it is estimated that the initiator's WTP layer which would receivethe Result PDU sends a TR-Result.ind to the client's WSP layer, andchanges its state from the RESULT WAIT state to a RESULT RESP WAIT state(see S4 of FIGS. 7 and 8).

[0061] Whereas, it is estimated that the client's WSP layer which wouldreceive the TR-Result.ind under the CONNRCTING state sends aS-Connect.cnf to the application layer, sends a TR-Result.res to theinitiator's WTP layer, and changes its state from the CONNECTING stateto a CONNECTED state (see S4′ of FIGS. 7 and 9).

[0062] Whereas, it is estimated that the initiator's WTP layer whichwould receive the TR-Result.res under the RESULT RESP WAIT state sendsthe Ack PDU to the responder's WTP layer, and changes its state from theRESULT RESP WAIT state to a WAIT TIMEOUT state (see S5 of FIGS. 7 and8).

[0063] Whereas, it is estimated that the responder's WTP layer whichwould receive the Ack PDU under the RESULT RESP WAIT state sends aTR-Result.cnf to the server's WSP layer, and changes its state from theRESULT RESP WAIT state to the LISTEN state (see S6 of FIGS. 7 and 10).Furthermore, it is estimated that the former state of the server's WSPlayer which would receive the TR-Result.cnf is the CONNECTING_(—)2 stateby the read-ahead sequence, and thereafter the server's WSP layerchanges its state from the CONNECTING_(—)2 state to a CONNECTED state(see S6′ of FIGS. 7 and 11).

[0064] Although not shown in FIG. 7, when the Ack PDU is not extractedwithin a certain period of time, that is, when a predetermined time-outis generated, it can be estimated that the initiator's WTP layerreceives no TR-Result.res from the client's WSP layer.

[0065] In the aforementioned embodiments, the sequence of thestate-transition for the connection establishment PDUs between theclient and the server is estimated. By using the similar way, thesequence of the state-transition for other PDUs can also be estimated.

[0066] As mentioned above in detail, the WAP analyzer according to thepresent invention can estimate the state-transition sequence based uponthe state-transition specification of WAP. Furthermore, the WAP analyzeraccording to the present invention can analyze the transmission statebased on the relationship between at least one transactions and onesession.

[0067] The WAP analyzer of the present invention is very useful for themobile data-communication service in which a transmission state willchange with a lapse of time, and the operator can easily find the causeof an abnormal transmission state at the WTP layer and the WSP layerlevels.

[0068] Many widely different embodiments of the present invention may beconstructed without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention. It should be understood that the present invention is notlimited to the specific embodiments described in the specification,except as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A WAP analyzer located on a transmission linebetween communication apparatuses using WAP, a WAP packet includes atleast one WTP-PDUs, said WAP analyzer comprising: database for storingstate-transition specification data that define a state-transition witha cause-and-effect relationship between WTP-PDUs, states of a WTP layer,primitives between said WTP layer and WSP (Wireless Session Protocol)layer, and states of said WSP layer, based on WAP specification; meansfor extracting said WTP-PDUs from said WAP packets; and means forestimating said state-transition of said WTP layer and said WSP layer,to said apparatus that received one of said WTP-PDUs and subsequentlysent other of said WTP-PDUs, for each pair of a sender and a receiver.2. A WAP analyzer as claimed in claim 1, wherein said estimating meansestimates said state-transition in said apparatus that sent said oneWTP-PDU in an initial state.
 3. A WAP analyzer as claimed in claim 2,wherein said estimating means estimates said state-transition in saidapparatus that sent or received said one WTP-PDU, when a predeterminedtime-out is generated.
 4. A WAP analyzer as claimed in claim 3, whereinsaid WAP analyzer further comprises means for displaying saidstate-transition in time series.
 5. A WAP analyzer as claimed in claim4, wherein said WAP analyzer further comprises means for storing a logof said WTP-PDUs extracted on real time in an online state by saidextracting means, and wherein said estimating means processes in anoffline state using a plurality of WTP-PDUs stored in said log storingmeans.
 6. A WAP analyzer as claimed in claim 5, wherein said WAPanalyzer further comprises means for storing a statistical-informationincluding a WTP statistical-information table and a WSPstatistical-information table for each pair of send sender and saidreceiver, and wherein said estimating means for incrementing the numberof item of WTP statistical-information table and of WSPstatistical-information table, in a case that said WAP packetscorresponds to said item.
 7. A WAP analyzer as claimed in claim 5,wherein items of said WTP statistical-information table include thenumber of PDUs, the number of bytes, the number of transactions, thedistributed number of PDUs per transaction, the number of retransmissionPDUs per transaction, the number of retransmission bytes, the number ofretransmission PDUs per transaction and the distributed number ofretransmission bytes per transaction, and wherein items of said WSPstatistical-information table include the number of sessions, thedistributed number of transactions per session, the number of PDUs persession, and the distributed number of bytes per session.
 8. A WAPanalyzer as claimed in claim 7, wherein said displaying means displayssaid items and the numbers of said items in said WTPstatistical-information table and said WSP statistical-informationtable.
 9. A WAP analyzer as claimed in claim 8, wherein said displayingmeans displays an average number of PDUs per transaction, an averagenumber of bytes per transaction, an average number of retransmissionPDUs per transaction, an average number of retransmission bytes pertransaction, an average number of transactions per session, an averagenumber of PDUs per session, and an average number of bytes per session.